Sidonie Du Villeduval

Sidonie De-Villeduval is a character in Sally Gardner's novel, The Red Necklace. She is depicted as extremely plain with a limp as a child, But as she ages she gains in beauty to become a very attractive young woman. She is written to be brown-haired with very pale skin, large, expressive eyes and rather petite due to her restricted diet through her father's neglect.
She was in a tragic carriage incident in which her mother and her uncle died when she was three years old, and where her leg was crushed and she was left with a limp.
She was sent by her Father, the Marquis, to a nunnery where she is thought to be treated badly, half starved by the nuns, excluding one by the name of Sister Magdelene, who Sido says told her stories of Jesus and her epithany. She is sent back to the Chateau by request of her father's 'friend' Kallivoski when she is twelve. She is frightened by his dark, leering presence and his loyal, huge dog, Balthazar. Later that night, when she watches a performance in which she sees Toplain, a magician, get shot when a trick is performed, she is the only one to realise that his 'death' was no accident or performance.
Later that evening,she wakes to find a strange boy, two years older than herself in her room with an unconscious dwarf, who appear to be able to read her thoughts. She helps him hide the dwarf, Tetu, under her bed, learning Kallivoski wants to kill them.
Kallivoski bursts in to the room, but Sido side-tracks him, declaring he should not be in her chamber and she is terrified of his dog. He doesn't find Tetu, but insists on spending the evening with her, something she has to accept, somewhat reluctantly, to ensure the boy's and Tetu's escape.
She learns the boy's name, Yann Margoza, and for several years falls in love with him in his absence. Kallivoski has lent her father a ridiculous sum of money, and in order to cancel the debt, asks for Sidonie's hand in marriage. She is terrified of him, and is shocked at the proposal. She is fourteen years old at this point, and is now extremely beautiful. She has to accept her father's wishes, as it is the only way to cancel the debt.
The revolution has begun,and the chateau is destroyed, but Sidonie and her half-insane father escape to Paris. There, she meets Yann Margoza, who tries to persuade her to allow him to take her to England, away from the threat of the Guillotine.
However, she is taken to the Bastille with her father, and forced to live in horrific conditions with a few prostitutes and a murderer, Le Vive le Joyeuse, who she befriends. Kallivoski arrives, and asks to see her alone. In a passionate scene, he tells her she can die or be his wife. She stays calm and silent, although terrified and ill with fever. She passes out, and awakens in her own cell in much better conditions, all of which Kallivoski has paid for.
Sidonie is taken to the courtroom, where miraculously, because the judge finds her attractive, she is freed. She leaves the prison, but is soon kidnapped by Kallivoski, who forces him to kiss her and agree to marry him. Yann comes to her aid just minutes before, causing a riot in which Kallivoski is 'Killed.' He confesses his love for Sido 'her pet name' and gives her a powerful shell from the gypsies in London. He was shot by Kallivoski's henchman, or he would have saved her sooner. The book ends as they sail to England, unaware of the future or Kallivoski's revival.
It is rumoured that Dominic West has bought the film rights, and will hold auditions for the role.

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